


Finally

by Philip_The_Poet



Series: So Artfully Instilled [8]
Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Actually a lot of kissing now that you mention it, Fluff, French Fries, Fridays, Kissing, M/M, Oops, Separation, Thomas's sex jokes, drive thru, jeffmads - Freeform, so much dialogue, when i write why is it always these two, your teeth may rot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-02
Updated: 2017-10-02
Packaged: 2019-01-08 00:44:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12243834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Philip_The_Poet/pseuds/Philip_The_Poet
Summary: It's been one unbearable week, but it's finally Friday. And Fridays are reserved entirely for James.





	Finally

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! More SAI stuff. This takes place somewhere between when they start dating and when they start *publicly* dating in this AU. Enjoy!

Five tests.

Three council meetings.

Six interactions with Alexander Hamilton.

One essay.

Two projects.

Sixteen total hours of sleep.

One unbearable week.

And now it was Friday.

Jefferson stared at the clock on the opposite wall of Seabury's classroom, jaw set and eyes unblinking as the little hand counting seconds dragged its way around the clock's face as if through molasses. Time seemed to be slowing down, slipping into perfect, insufferable harmony with Seabury's nasal monotone.

But now it was Friday.

Five glances.

Three council meetings.

Six subtle hand brushes.

One quick kiss in a bathroom stall.

Two sick days.

What must have been sixteen hundred texts.

One unbearable week.

And now it was finally Friday.

And Fridays were reserved entirely for James Madison.

The minute hand hesitantly edged a little closer to the hour. Jefferson's head throbbed, his pencil suspended dully over his paper as his focus remained on the clock.

Two minutes.

His car keys were in his back pocket, his bag almost packed, his jacket already on in preparation to bolt out into the autumn air at the peal of the bell.

One minute.

One unbearable week.

And now it was finally, _finally_ Friday.

The smallest hand fought through its relentless viscosity, seeming to give an inaudible creak as it heaved itself into exactly the right position.

Thomas bit his lip.

The bell rang.

_James_.

Shoving his notebook into his bag with barely a glance at how it landed and jamming his pencil behind his ear into his curls, Jefferson nearly knocked the desk over in his clumsy rush to sprint out the door. He tripped a little over his shoes, regaining enough balance to propel himself further down the linoleum hall past rows of lockers and crowds of students to that light that meant the doors were near and the sun was out and the parking lot was there waiting for him and now it was finally, finally, _finally_ Friday and he could see James, _really_ see James, and—

He shoved the door, flinging it open as he stumbled further along through throngs of bovine high schoolers. His car was in sight.

He booked it.

Within another moment, Thomas was slumped against the hood of his midsize with two fingers massaging the bridge of his nose and his bag discarded at his feet.

One unbearable week.

Friday.

_James_.

God, Jefferson used to be able to stand it. Sure, he'd always missed Madison when they were apart, but he used to be able to force his mind to distract itself. Sure, he'd always daydreamed and thought of Madison when they were separated, but he used to be free of the feeling of insatiable loneliness and the desire to just _hold_ him, every day, every hour, every moment.

But now they were together.

Like, the kind of together where he could take Madison's hand. The kind of together where he could kiss him until his lungs ached. The kind of together where he didn't have to pretend or ignore or lie anymore.

Now they were _together_.

He'd be taking a test, and all of a sudden the thought of having James in his arms would dispel all other concentration. He'd see Hamilton at lunch holding Laurens's hand, and his chest would go tight while his hand would feel empty. He'd be awake, paranoid and exhausted at two in the morning in front of a textbook, and suddenly nothing would make sense except the thought of James's lips.

Jefferson thought he would explode if he had to endure much more.

But now it was Friday.

And now a small cough sounded from just nearby.

Thomas's head shot up to face the new arrival, eyes wide and hopeful.

"Hey."

Jefferson barely managed to scan the parking lot for onlookers before lurching forwards and enveloping a vaguely surprised Madison in one desperate clutch of a hug.

He clung to Madison's sweater. "Oh my god."

The latter seemed to border on bewilderment, returning the hug a moment later.

_Friday_.

"Uh." James stepped back, squinting up at Thomas. "Are you. Okay?"

"Long week." Thomas stared at him. His hand was still gripping James's sleeve. "Long week. Missed you. Friday. In."

Although Thomas's attempts at verbalization were weak at best in the shadow of his relief, Madison was able to decipher well enough what Thomas wanted when the boy tugged at his sleeve, leading him a little closer to the door of the passenger side.

Jefferson rubbed one eye. "I'm takin' you somewhere."

Madison raised an eyebrow, picking Jefferson's bag up off the pavement and tossing it into the backseat along with his own. Jefferson collapsed onto the driver's seat, jamming the key into the ignition as if this was an exercise in letting out some profound pent-up aggression. His back slammed against the seat.

"So." Madison reached over, turning the key to turn the car on. "Where're you taking me?"

Jefferson groaned. "Home. So I can throw you on my bed and put my tongue in your mouth and—"

"Ah." Madison nodded, leaning an elbow on the window. "Well, try to keep it in your pants at least till we're out of the parking lot."

"Mmmmhmm."

Madison glanced down. Thomas's hand was on the center console, fingers stretching hopefully towards James's as he started pulling out of the parking spot with one hand on the wheel.

He took it. Laced their fingers together, felt Jefferson relax.

Thomas let out a sigh of a breath.

"Do you need coffee or something?"

"You can't drink coffee." Thomas turned out of the parking lot, taking a sharp left. "I don't want..."

"I don't care." James eyed him in profile against the window. His shoulders were drawn back in stark contrast to his typical easy posture, eyes wide and drooping. His fatigue seemed fit to match James's own. He continued. "If you—"

"I missed you."

Jefferson gulped. They had reached a red light.

After only a moment's hesitation, he lifted Madison's hand, pressing his lips to each knuckle.

And every finger.

And his wrist.

And his forearm.

And—

"Light's green."

Thomas's cheeks burned, his head snapping back to face forwards in time to start moving again. "Mhm."

James bit the inside of his cheek. "Missed you, too."

A slow smile tugged at Thomas's lips. "Yeah?"

"Uh huh."

"God, I want to—" He looked over again, stealing a glance at James and reaching for his hand once more. "It's Friday."

"I think you need caffeine."

"I'm—"

"Let's blow five bucks. Get you a coffee or something. And I want some food."

Jefferson's lips curved into a smirk. "Five bucks? That's what we're blowing?"

"Thomas."

"Don't roll your eyes that hard, they'll get stuck that way."

"Thomas, do I need to come over there—"

"Please do."

James was laughing now. "I can't. You're driving."

"I'll stop."

"No, I'm hungry."

"But I'm _thirsty_."

"My god."

"I'm going, I'm going." Thomas pressed a little harder on the pedal for emphasis. He squeezed James's hand gently. "What're you hungry for?"

"The cheapest fries money can buy."

"Your wish is my command, sugar," he drawled, a lazy Cheshire cat smile still stretched across his face.

"Sugar?"

"Sugar, honey, darlin', sweets..."

Madison scoffed. "I'm not a single one of those things."

"Yeah, you are. You're also a sweetheart, dear, cutie, gorgeous—"

"Bullshit," Madison deflected. "You need coffee."

"Mmmno, I need to kiss you."

James shot him a playful look. "First, buy me fries."

"Sure thing, sugar."

Jefferson took a right turn off the main road, cutting through a street lined with comfortable little town houses. "This week, Jemmy, I _swear_. APs are gonna team up with Hamilton and they're gonna put a bullet through my head, one way or another."

James smiled a little at the nickname. "If you need any help..."

"I'll be sure to ask you." Thomas spared him a quick look, his eyes relaxed alongside the little carefree creases of his skin at their corners. Laugh lines. Or, as James used to call them, cackle crinkles. Thomas had hated that. He'd pretended to, at least. "I'm so lucky to have a genius like you with me—"

"Don't miss your turn."

The car swerved left. "Shit. See?"

"Just doing my job."

"I prob'ly have some jobs for you, now that you mention it..."

"Thomas, if you had a nickel for every sex joke you make, what would you buy?"

"I'd buy you all the fries in the world."

"Heaven knows you could afford it."

Jefferson grinned.

The traffic wasn't bad at all for a Friday afternoon. At the very least, the turn into the dismal McDonald's parking lot posed no danger of a car crash.

Thomas feigned a sigh. "This is so romantic."

"Shh. This is luxury."

"This?" He cocked an eyebrow in amusement.

"Yes, actually, there's nothing more luxurious than having the freedom to eat salty, fried sticks of potato in a small cardboard box any time you want."

"Well, when you put it like that..."

Jefferson wheeled up to the black box of the drive-thru, rolling down his window and leaning a little out.

He waited.

And waited.

And waited.

"Uhh..." He scanned the parking lot, squinting out into the sun. "Hello?"

Silence.

" _Hello_?"

Madison looked over Jefferson's shoulder. "Not working?"

"Damn thing probably broke or something."

"Crap." Madison's jaw clenched.

"Y'know, if we—" Jefferson reached a hand out, hit the side of the thing as if to wake it up.

"If you break that thing any more..."

"Nah, I think—"

"Be careful."

"Hello? Uhh—" Jefferson stopped dead.

Madison blinked. "What?"

Without notice, Thomas dissolved into laughter, suddenly overcome by a fit until he was gasping for breath. "Oh, shit! Fuck!"

"Wha— _Oh_. Oh, shit."

Both boys' laughs echoed in and out of the tall, black trash can next to the driver's side door.

"Shit, I can't believe—"

"Imagine if there was a line—"

"Holy fuck—"

"God, drive before someone sees us." Madison pressed his hand to his forehead, still smiling. "Holy..."

Jefferson shook his head, rolling up to the machine he was certain was _not_ just a very convincing trash can. "One long fuckin' week, James, I'm gonna—"

A metallic voice pointedly cut in. " _Welcome_ to McDonald's, how may I help you?"

Stifling another laugh and shooting Madison a gleeful look, Jefferson leaned in towards the machine. "Uhh, yeah, uh, what's the largest size you got for some plain coffee?"

"A large."

"A _large_ ," he repeated, turning back to wiggle his eyebrows teasingly at Madison. "One large coffee, please. No cream."

"Would you like sugar?"

"Oh, _yes_ , please."

"Is that all for today?"

"Nope," Jefferson squinted at the menu board, "One, uhhh... one... large fry?"

"One large fry."

"Oh, crap," he hesitated a moment, considering, "That means a large box of fries, right? Not, like, just one big fry?"

There was a brief silence from the speaker during which Jefferson remembered and came to full terms with the breadth of his haplessness, after which the employee replied stoically, "Yeah, that's a large box of fries."

"That, then. Please. Uh."

Some green lettering popped up on the machine's screen.

"Is that all for today?"

Before Thomas could reply, James leaned across him. "Yes, thank you."

"That'll be three dollars and thirty-eight cents at the first window."

"Thank you."

Jefferson drove up a little, taking his time in rolling up to the window.

"You owe me a nickel for that size joke and another for the sugar one."

"You owe me a dime for making me listen to that size joke and the sugar one."

"Good grief." Jefferson fished in his pocket for a five dollar bill. "Can I pay you in kisses, instead?"

Madison smirked, coughing briefly before imitating Jefferson's voice. "'Uhh, yeah, uh.'"

Thomas huffed, unable to suppress a grin, and pulled up to the window.

A bored-looking girl tugged open the frame, reaching out and snatching the five from his hand. "Three thirty-eight."

Thomas seemed to realize something just then, tugging his hand abruptly out of James's.

"One sixty-two's your change." The girl shoved a bill and some coins back in his palm. She eyed him for a split second, recognition flickering in her expression. "Thank you."

"Thanks, Elizabeth." Jefferson shot her a crooked smile before hitting the pedal to drive forwards.

Madison eyed him curiously. "And who—"

"Girl in my history class. Friends with Monroe."

"Are you gon—"

"Later." Jefferson shook his head, braking at the next window.

A lanky college-age kid with a baseball cap passed him a cup of coffee and a paper bag. Jefferson nodded his thanks. "Have a good one."

"You, too."

He passed the bag to Madison, taking a long swig of scalding coffee from the cup. "Sorry."

"No."

Thomas jammed it into the cupholder, flicking on his blinker before he turned out of the parking lot. A light breeze blew in through the window.

"Want a fry?"

"No, I want to kiss you."

Madison squinted at him. "Okay."

"Okay?"

"Pull over."

"On the side of the road? Really?"

"Well, can you wait?"

Thomas cracked a smile. "No."

"There's a dead end coming up on the left."

He pursed his lips, brow furrowing apologetically. "I'll bring us to my place, I swear, I just..."

"Long week?"

"Yeah." Thomas nodded, slowing down to turn. "Yeah."

The car took a sharp left onto the little road. It appeared to be mainly uninhabited at the moment, but he still drove until he was certain they had at least some marginal amount of privacy.

He parked. Hit the curb.

"Sorry. I'm a sleaze, huh."

Madison rolled his eyes. "Not true."

"We're in, like, an alley."

"I mean, I got us here."

"Eh..."

James raised both eyebrows.

Friday.

_Finally_.

Thomas felt his ribs hit the center console, hip awkwardly pressing against the steering wheel as he struggled to keep his balance. Nevertheless, he leaned in to James, kiss landing its target on his smirk, and his lips sprung into motion, pressing and pushing and going. And his hands— God, James was in his hands, he was there, he was _real_. Thomas felt a pull on his collar, one hand on the back of his neck. He tried to lean closer, closer to him, he wanted him _more_ —

Madison hiccuped into Jefferson's mouth, who gasped in response to the center console's latest blow to his ribs.

"What—"

Madison seemed on the verge of laughter.

"How do they..." Jefferson glanced down, hands still braced on Madison, his expression one of bafflement and impatience. "Cliché bullshit. Impossible. Backseat."

He popped the door open, hopping out hesitantly to reposition himself in the back. His and Madison's backpacks cast to the floor, Jefferson had room to splay himself out like a desperate beggar in his own car. "C'mere. Missed you, I swear..."

In a well-intentioned if ungraceful motion, Jefferson took Madison by the arm, leaning forwards to heave all one hundred or so feather-light pounds of him back into the backseat. It was an oddly gentle, oddly effective tangle of limbs, and within a moment Madison was in Jefferson's arms again.

He smiled lazily, tilting James's chin up to press their lips together. Motion resumed, Thomas's tongue finding its way between James's parting lips as his eyes fluttered blissfully closed. It was sloppy, and his hands were running up and down James's body with some unchecked hunger, and it was heaven. It was finally, _finally_ heaven.

"Want you, want you..." Thomas gasped for a breath, pulling back and pressing his lips to that sweet spot just under James's jaw. He trailed a line down his neck, wet kisses peppering warm skin wherever he could reach to taste. "God, I want..."

Madison wove his fingers in and out of Jefferson's hair. "Yeah?"

"Want you so bad..." His hand massaged circles at Madison's hip, fingers teasing at his belt. "You're like honey, I'm..."

"Like honey." Madison breathed out a laugh.

"I'm tryin'," Jefferson protested between nips at James's neck. "God, you're so..."

"So...?"

" _Perfect_."

James positioned his hand to cradle Thomas's head, guiding him back up to meet his lips. "You."

Thomas took the cue, letting a surge of energy shoot through him and into the kiss. One hand scrambled up to James's chest and came to rest over his heart. Something inside him went sore with satisfaction at the assurance that Madison's heart was hammering at a mile a minute in time with his own.

"Perfect, perfect, perfect..." He grazed Madison's bottom lip with his teeth.

James's mouth turned up in an absent smile.

"I been wanting you so long, together, I'm your..."

"It's only been a few days—"

"No, no, longer... Always liked you so much, kiss me," Thomas babbled against James's lips. "Kiss me, k—"

James cut him off, complying.

God, his _lips_. Jefferson clutched at him, feeling that soft skin and the yarn of his sweater and the smell of the detergent the Madisons used and he was soaring, absolutely soaring, flying through a sky full of stars that spelled out James's name right beside his own.

"Wait."

Jefferson pulled back, prying his eyes open to look at him. "Yeah?"

"Are we g— shit, your _pupils_."

He reached a hand up to touch Madison's cheek. "Hmm?"

"Your pupils, they're huge," James replied, squinting at him in amusement. "Your parents are gonna think you're tripping on acid."

"Better than that." Thomas grinned. "Yours, too. Like saucers."

"Thomas?"

He pressed a soft kiss to James's forehead, just wanting to feel his lips land everywhere they could. "Mhmm?"

"Are we gonna tell people? Go public?"

Thomas pulled back. He watched James thoughtfully. "You wanna?"

"That girl back there, you..."

"Oh."

"Are you ashamed or something?"

Jefferson's chest tightened. "No."

"I don't mean to rush you, and I don't..."

"It's just new, that's all." Jefferson glanced away. "This. I'm just not used to..."

"... This?"

"Yeah." He cupped Madison's cheek in his hand, watching his fingers as if looking for signs that he was dreaming. "I wish I could go back and tell ten-year-old me."

"Me too," Madison gave a light smile. "So are...?"

"Yeah, yeah." Jefferson brought his lips back to Madison's for a moment. "Waited long enough for this, better not hide it, still."

"Yeah."

Thomas's eyes fell shut again, kisses light and soft against James's bottom lip. "Your fries are gonna get cold."

"Mmmm, _I'm_ cold."

Thomas let out an indignant sort of whine, wrapping his arms back around James. "I got a comforter at home. I'm gonna wrap you in it. I promise."

"Till then?"

In place of a reply, Thomas caught James in another kiss, pulling him closer.

Finally, finally, _finally_ heaven.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos would actually really genuinely make me immensely and immeasurably happy, so if you're feeling it, come chat in the comments! Thank you. <3


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